nGage 3.5 for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 launches

OI Software Ltd today launched a new release - and a new pricing model - for nGage, the Enterprise 2.0/Social Computing system built specifically for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Janaury 14, 2009, Thame, United Kingdom

The release of nGage 3.5 is another big step forward for what many already saw as the market leading offering in this space. nGage is now positioned as a complete Social Computing System. Paul Henry, OI’s CEO, says “We’ve been working for nearly 3 years now on creating something that actually delivers on the promise of Enterprise 2.0/Social Computing. Of course, it’s a journey not a destination. But we bring so much now in terms driving adoption and business value, I think it’s appropriate to differentiate nGage more clearly from the myriad social networking tools and technologies that are out there.”

Development Philosophy

OI’s development philosophy for nGage has been consistent:

• To waste nothing and leverage everything provided out-of-the-box with SharePoint.
• To only add Feature Sets that can deliver on a specific business value proposition.
• For every component to automatically inherit the styles and themes of an existing MOSS deployment.
• To keep increasing the configurability of every component: the objective is to offer all the ‘time to market’ and TCO advantages of an enterprise-class application product - yet enabling non-technical people to create solutions that are as unique as the most crafted of custom developments.
• To ensure that usage of every SharePoint or nGage feature can be tracked through its Contribution Logging system – and so feed the Reputation Systems, BI/Social Analytics and Communications strategies that are the drivers of adoption, and, therefore, business value.

NEW Social Search

The newest member of nGage’s Feature Set ‘family’ is Social Search.

It’s the ‘killer app’ on the Internet – but Search is frequently weak in Intranets: Social Search is part of the solution.

Social Search returns every search result with the name, photo, job title, location and contact information of its contributor – and any associated comments and ratings. It’s a simple idea, but the benefits are considerable: it drives the quantity and quality of content available on the Intranet - which improves the value and usability of Search results - and creates an upward spiral of engagement, retention and knowledge management.

The automatic ‘personal branding’ of all content discovered through Search is also a strong cultural statement that supports one of the goals of successful Enterprise Social Computing: getting people focused on building their reputations inside the firewall.

NEW Email Notifications

• nGage now generates email messages to ‘experts’ when a question is asked in their category.
• To Idea Type and Challenge owners when an idea is submitted in their category/to their campaign.

NEW Search for Q&A/Ideas

Search and reuse of Q&A and Ideas generated through nGage is now facilitated by out-of-the-box integration using BDC (Business Data Catalog).

NEW Third Party Systems Integration

A new simple method has been introduced for integrating third party applications (e.g. CRM) into the Contribution Logging system.

NEW Pricing Model

• One-time Installation of the complete nGage system.
• Full functionality immediately and freely available to your Social Computing ‘Project Team’.
• Pay a pre-agreed, fixed license fee plus annual support and maintenance on activation of each Feature Set for the rest of the organization.
• Convert to outright purchase at any time without penalty.

Paul adds, “We must be getting close to an acceptance of the massive business opportunity that social computing represents. There are still a few too many people still talking about ‘cool tools’ and ‘Generation Y’. But we’re seeing signs that the big message is getting through: that there is no aspect of business endeavour that cannot be supported by a smart social computing strategy.”

About OI Software

OI Software is an independent software company founded in 2007. It is the developer of nGage, the Enterprise 2.0/ Social Computing System that integrates with the Microsoft SharePoint platform to drive performance improvements, cost savings and competitive advantage. OI is headquartered in the UK and operates internationally through a growing partner network.

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OI Software Limited, The Sanderum Centre, 30a Upper High Street, Thame, Oxon. OX9 3EX, United Kingdom

Telephone : +44 (0) 1844 211 666